Wednesday, October 4, 2023
2:00 – 3:30 pm ET

Handle ADA & Mental Health Considerations with Confidence

The higher education community has experienced dramatic increases in the numbers of students with diagnoses of anxiety disorders, depression, and other mental health challenges over the last decade. Administrators must often grapple with balancing requirements to accommodate disabilities (under the Americans with Disabilities Act) with managing disruptive behavior, threats, and even harm to self or others, especially around policies on leaves, withdrawals, and readmission. 

Campus policy development for such cases must appropriately balance the needs of the larger educational community with the health and well-being of these students and do so in compliance with the complex state and federal law framework.

Join us on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, when our expert presenter – campus attorney Hannah Ross – will focus on the framework of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as recently amended. Having the right policies and clarity about the legal authority for your institution’s position regarding the intersection of ADA and mental health helps make those difficult discussions easier. Feel confident explaining your institution’s policies, and the various ways a departure or a return can play out.

She will provide practical advice on options for addressing troubling behavior, including safety concerns, while ensuring compliance with the law. You will examine relevant guidance and case studies that will help to support difficult decisions you will inevitably be faced with on your campus.

Topics Covered

As a result of this online training, you will be better able to:

• Evaluate requested accommodations and weigh what is reasonable, including academic, residential, and conduct requirements and expectations, in contexts where a student’s safety and well-being may be at risk – ensure the balance of the needs of the larger educational community with the health and well-being of individuals. 
• Navigate various types of departures and readmission (leave of absence, withdrawal, disciplinary sanction) successfully based on the most up-to-date information on relevant laws, including the ADA and Section 504 – utilize strategies for how to document behavioral expectations and recommendations for treatment.
• Draft and/or revise institutional policies to support thoughtful, clinically well-informed decision-making by administrators and behavioral intervention teams – utilize this legal direction to help ensure you can correctly interpret guidance in the face of difficult decisions regarding your students’ safety and well-being for the short- and long-term.
• Examine the relevant guidance and case studies from real cases – get the guidance you need to help support the decisions you will inevitably make on your campus.

Presenter

Hannah Ross currently serves as the General Counsel, Chief of Staff, and Secretary to the Corporation at Middlebury College in Vermont.
Click here for full bio.